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	Enormous Achievements in 20 Years of National Economic Development Over the past 20 years of reform and opening up, the full display of enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of various social sectors has brought about the substantial liberation and development of social productive forces, the high-speed development of China's national economy and the rapid increase in overall national strength. According to materials provided by the State Statistical Bureau, in the past 19 years since 1979, China's GDP has shot up from 362.4 billion yuan to 7,477.2 billion yuan, with the average annual growth of 9.8 percent, calculated on the basis of comparable price. In 1995, China achieved the planned target of quadrupling the 1980 GDP five years ahead of schedule. By 1997, China's economic aggregate had ranked seventh in the world. Experts of World Bank appraised the epoch-making changes taken place in China over the past 20 years as: 'China has scored the achievements in a period of only one generation which could be made by other countries in several centuries.' The report is capped by the Editor's remarks, which say that the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Party Central committee in 1978 marked a great turning-point in which our Party and state heralded a new period, embarked on a new road and created a new theory. As we review the past, we are proud of our achievements gained in the 20 years of reform and opening up and we are redoubling our efforts to work for a brighter future. Attached to this report is a chart drawn by Liu Xiaoqing.
	Third Course of Lectures on Legal System Held by the Ninth NPC Standing Committee The third course of lectures on the legal system was held yesterday by the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Li Peng, chairman of the NPC Standing Committee, spoke on the occasion. He noted that Practice over the past half century has fully proved that the People's Congress system is a fundamental political system suited to China's national conditions and with Chinese characteristics. He pointed out building a socialist politic with Chinese characteristics means that, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and on the basis of the people being masters of their destiny, we administer the country according to law and develop socialist democracy. Adhering to and perfecting the People's Congress system constitute an important content of the effort to build a socialist politic with Chinese characteristics.
	Central Leaders of Various Democratic Parties Hold Forum in Beijing to Commemorate 50th Anniversary of the CPC 'May 1' Slogan Leaders of the central committees of various democratic parties held in Beijing yesterday a grand ``forum to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the struggle carried out by various democratic parties to build a new China in response to the CPC's 'May 1' slogan'', jointly commemorating this event of great, historic significance in the annals of China's multi-party cooperation. Li Ruihuan, member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), attended and spoke at the forum. In his speech, Li Ruihuan expressed the hope that various democratic parties will work around the central task, serve the interests of the whole and give effective play to their role as parties participating in the administration of state affairs.
	Li Ruihuan Meets With Romanian Speaker Li Ruihuan, chairman of the CPPCC, met with Petre Roman, chairman of Romania's Senate. During the meeting, Li said that in recent years, there have been frequent contacts between top leaders of the two countries, the friendly relationship of cooperation in various fields has steadily consolidated and developed under the new situation, adding that China speaks highly of Romanian support for China on a number of major issues, particularly its persistent 'one-China' stance on the Taiwan issue. He said China attaches importance to developing ties with Romania, regarding the latter as China's sincere friend in the east European region. Petre Roman said Roman hopes to strengthen cooperation with China in the political, economic, diplomatic and cultural fields.
	Hu Jintao Meets With Angolan Delegation Hu Jintao, member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee of the CPC Central Committee and vice-president, met with the Angolan People's Liberation Movement Delegation led by General Secretary Lopo Donascimento. Hu said over the past 15 years since diplomatic relationship was established between China and Angola, relationship between the two countries has developed steadily, favorable development trends have appeared in mutually beneficial cooperation between the two sides in the economic, cultural and other spheres. He expressed the willingness of the Chinese Communist Party to join efforts with the Angolan People's Liberation Movement to bring the China-Angola relationship characterized by true friendship, equality and mutual benefit and close cooperation into the 21st century. Lopo expressed the hope that his present visit will help add some new contents to enhancing the friendly relationship of cooperation between the two countries and Parties.
	Wei Jianxing Ends His Viet Nam Visit Wei Jianxing, member of the Political Bureau Standing Committee and of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and the Chinese Communist Party Delegation he led ended their official, good-will visit to Viet Nam. On the evening of September 21, Wei had talks with a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Communist Party and secretary of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee. During the talks, Wei said during his visit in Viet Nam, he had cordial and friendly meetings with Le Kha Phieu, Do Muoi and PhanVan Khai, and other Vietnamese Party and state leaders and exchange of opinions on the friendly and cooperative relations between the two Parties, states and peoples and other issues of common concern and reached a wide-ranging common view.
	Photo by Li Shibing and Zhao Qiyong: The project of water diversion from the Songhua River to Changchun, undertaken by No.13 Bureau of the Ministry of Railways, is China's third largest urban water-diversion project in China today. The project, when completed, can supply 308 million tons of water annually. Pictured here is the panorama of Hutou.
	The Development Bank Again Puts in Additional Loans Worth 30 Billion Yuan According to the Development Bank of China, on the basis of an increase of 20 billion yuan of loans put in this April, the bank recently decided to again put in additional loans valued at 30 billion yuan. In 1998, the bank has actively readjusted the credit structure, and earnestly increased input in infrastructure facilities.

	An Ecological County in Heilongjiang Yanshu County in Heilongjiang Province has put over 57 million yuan into projects to set mountains and rivers to rights in a bid to build itself into an agro-ecological demonstration county. Over the past two years, the county took steps to conserve water and soil, renew forests, nurture forests by sealing off mountains, build small reservoirs, ponds and dams, and harness small rivers and streams, etc. In addition, it has shut down over 100 small timber processing factories and examined and handled over 80 cases on arbitrary forest logging. The county has drawn up a plan for building an ecological demonstration area . In addition, preferential terms have been granted to tap the initiative of the people and grassroots cadres for ecological purposes.
	Foreign-Funded Businesses Welcome Anti-Smuggling in China In the Economic Viewpoint Column, an essay headed Foreign-funded Businesses welcome the Anti-Smuggling Drive in China says that the anti-smuggling drive has diminished the smuggled cargoes, weakened the smuggled cargoes' impact on the domestic markets, forced down the prices for related commodities and palpably improved the production and management ambience for the domestic enterprises. The essay says that general managers of foreign-funded enterprises including Motorola and the ROK LG share the view that the anti-smuggling drive has benefited their enterprises. They believed that if smuggling can be halted, prices will go up and their enterprises will have bright prospects. The general managers are confident in the anti-smuggling drive and their investment in China.
	Hebei Province examined and handled on September 20 a grain processing dealer and 3 grain stations which run counter to the state grain reform policy.
	A photo showing anti-smuggling steamboats in action on the waters of Zhejiang Province.
	Shut down Illicit Small Coal Mines A commentary headed Shut down Illegal Small Coal Mines says that thanks to the low-level overlapping construction, aimless development, and backward technological equipment and exploiting ways in the small coal mines, coal resources have been wrecked, the recovery rate is generally low and workers' safety is unsatisfactory. And output out of illegal exploitation has made an impact on the markets, resulted in an oversupply and seriously affected the economic returns and the sustained growth of the state coal enterprises. The commentary calls for implementation of the notice issued recently by the State Council on closing down coal wells and reducing production.
	The building materials industry has pulled out of the trough and purchase and marketing are booming due to beefed-up fixed assets investment which has pushed up market demand.
	Color TV sets sales are booming in Shanghai. Non-public ownership enterprises are expanding rapidly in Sichuan. The fixed assets investment is making headway in Gansu Province. The inflation rate posted a new low in August in Hong Kong
	A water supply project to divert the Biliu River to Dalian started operation l4 months ahead of schedule in Dalian.
	The anti-smuggling drive yielded results at the Urumqi Customs in Xinjiang.
	The Shenzhen Customs cracked 29 smuggling cases worth over 120 million yuan and l8 suspects in the cases have been sent to the police.
	The General Administration of Customs has greeted the Urumqi Customs for cracking down on 4 major arbitrage cases.
	China National Aero-Technology Import And Export Corporation (CATIC) exported earlier a civil aircraft to Egypt, bringing the total exported civil aircraft from China to 100 worth over US$ 300 million.

	The Warning of a Big Smuggling Case. Editor's Notes: Cracking down on smuggling is not only an important economic struggle, but also a serious political struggle. The most salient characteristic of recent smuggling cases is special legal persons participating in smuggling, which lead to the collusion between the organs of power and the smugglers in some places. If we conscientiously implement the central authorities' instructions on anti-smuggle, we can win the final victory in this battle. Lianyungang Dongfang Industry and Trade Company smuggled 70 cars in the past few years with the help and protection of the local public security and customs. The manager of this company was sentenced to death with a reprieve of two years and two directors of Lianyungang Public Security Bureau, the next higher-level department of the company, were sentenced to 12- and 16-year imprisonment respectively. This case shows that the judicial departments' joining in the commercial activities will lead to corruption and disrupt the order of the market economy. The discovery of this case reflects the Chinese government's determination to crack down on smuggling and combat corruption.
	Photo: Yin Yanhong(right), director of Hengjiang police checkpost in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, dismantles the forged license tag from a smuggled car. In the first half of this year, Guangxi Border Police have seized 128 smuggled cars.

	China Sets up Copyright Protection Center China established a national copyright protection center in Beijing September 22 to consolidate its Great Wall holding back the tide of piracy. The new center will take over some administrative functions of the State Copyright Administration to deal with copyright transfer business and provide convenience for Chinese and foreign copyright holders, according to the director of the center. The center is in charge of copyright registration for computer software and works from foreign countries, as well as from China's Macao, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the director said. The center is responsible for the authentication of copyrights of works imported from or exported to other countries, as well as the registration of publishing contracts of audio-video and electronic publications involving a foreign party, said the director.
	China's Flooded Areas to Receive World Bank Assistance The World Bank plans to provide a loan of US$ 80 million to help China rebuild areas hit by this summer's devastating flooding in the Yangtze River Valley. This loan project includes an interest-free soft loan of US$ 40 million. The loans will be used to repair and rebuild damaged roads, power generating and water supply systems, schools, hospitals and various other public facilities. A World Bank delegation made a fact-finding tour of China's Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi provinces September 16-22.
	Ding Guangen Praises Photo Exhibition Senior Chinese Party official Ding Guangen September 22 praised the ongoing exhibition of photos showing Chinese civilians and soldiers battling devastating flooding this summer. "The show displays the great anti-flood spirit, as well as patriotism, collectivism, socialism and revolutionary heroism,"said Ding. He also noted exhibits provide a highly effective tool for educating the general public. Ding, member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the Publicity Department under the CPC Central Committee, made the remarks while visiting the exhibition which began on September 18.
	Secretary of Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee Welcomes Media Supervision. On September 16, the People's Daily published a critical report, revealing the problems of Fuzhou Branch Procuratorate in Jiangxi Province. Shu Huiguo, Secretary of Jiangxi Party Committee, pointed out that the report was a legitimate news supervision. Shu said Jiangxi welcomes such supervision from the mass media, which is a mirror used to help us solve the problems and to promote improvement of our work, adding that the Provincial Party Committee will fully support this supervision.
	Anhui Works Hard to Build Water Conservancy Projects The Anhui Provincial government combines the work of flood-control with building water conservancy projects and has thus greatly improved this province's ability to fight against the flood. This year, the governments at all levels along the Yangtze River in Anhui Province have all devoted to building water conservancy projects much earlier than before, which has made great contribution to fighting this year's devastating flood. The whole province will inject more than 3 billion yuan into the construction of flood-control projects in this winter and next spring, according to a program issued by the provincial government. Photo: The dykes of the Yangtze in Hejiang County are flood-control projects built in this year's anti-flood struggle.

	China Is Making Efforts to Push Library Modernization Through Automatic Management and Networked Information The establishment of Chinese Library Information Network has started, all the prefecture- or city-level libraries will undertake automated management and enter the network as of 2000. Together with an experimental digital library program begun in 1997, the network will significantly promote the modernization of Chinese libraries. In China, there are 2,661 public libraries and about 10,000 attached to schools, institutions and scientific & technological research units. Despite of the fact that the facilities are rather backward, management outdated and resources not properly used in most public libraries, 400,000 people have only one library on average in the country. Nevertheless, the government's investment in this area has been increasing all these years, and about 173 libraries are under construction. The Ministry of Culture and Beijing Council for the Promotion of International Trade will host the 1st China International Library Facility and Technology Exhibition in Beijing in April 1999.
	Chinese Students Abroad Invited to Take Part in the Environmental Protection and Improvement in Chongqing 40 doctors have been chosen to participate in the biological and environmental protection program in the city of Chongqing and the Three Gorges reservoir area. They have finished the investigation in the Gorges valley and some polluting enterprises in Wanxian and Fuling districts.
	Swallows Flying Back -- Report on how Yanshan University Recruits Talents The Qinhuangdao-based Yanshan University, a comprehensive university with about 10,000 students majoring in arts, science, economics, law and management, grew out of the North-East Heavy-Duty Machinery College in Qiqihar. The university has hired a number of talents from home and abroad, over 70 of them are PHDs or tutors for doctorate candidates. 60 percent of the students, sent to study abroad by the school, have returned.
	World Sprinter Florence Griffith Joyner Dies Suddenly Griffith Joyner died of heart seizure at home on September 22 at the age of 38. She set women's world records at 100 and 200 meters in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.
	Chinese Gymnasts Should Take 10 Gold Medals Zhang Jian, director of the Gymnastics Administration Center, says there is no problem for the Chinese national gymnasts' team to get 8 to 10 gold medals in the upcoming Asian Games in Bangkok. The team has been going all out to prepare for the sports meet since the National Games last year.
	1,500 People Have Entered Their Names for the First China Chess Online Open Tournament The First China Chess Online Open Tournament is held in the China Chess Online (http: //www.cchess.com) from September 21 to October 20. 1,500 fans have entered their names for the online tournament, initiated by China Chess Association and co-sponsored by Shenzhen Data Communication Bureau, Shenzhen Oaking Computer Company and Beijing Zhongxiang Cultural Development Company. It is predicted that about 3,000 people will take part in the event.
	Bids for All Sports Competitions in 1999 Invited The State Physical Culture and Sports Administration spokesman announced in Beijing on September 22 that Zheng'ao Cup 1999 National Sports Competitions Public Bidding is to be held on October 7-10 in Fuzhou, capital of Fujian Province. Contractors for the competitions and advertisements of 458 national and international events held in China will be selected through public bidding.

	Yeltsin Signs Government Formation Decree Yeltsin: Russian Boundary Line Delimited According to the new decree signed by Russian President Boris Yeltsin , the new Russian government is composed of a Prime Minister, six Vice PMs including two First Vice PMs, and five ministries. Yeltsin stresses the Russian Boundary Line has been delimited and Russia has no border disputes with any other countries. He points out that though it is difficult to delimit some sections on the border which have received special attention and protection.
	Wu Banguo Meets with Argentine Economic Affairs Minister China wants to strengthen economic and trade cooperation with Argentina, said Chinese Vice Premier Wu Bangguo in talks with Argentine Economic Affairs Minister. Argentina is a major trade partner of China in Latin America and bilateral cooperation has made some progress in the fishery, automobile and color TV sectors. Noting that there is great potential in economic cooperation between the two countries, Wu expresses the hope that industrial cooperation will become closer.
	China: Afghan Issue Should be Solved by Afghan People The question of Afghanistan should be solved by the Afghan people themselves and the Afghan people have the ability to solve the problem on their own, said Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan at the eight-country conference on the Afghan issue. "It is our hope that all factions in Afghanistan will immediately achieve a ceasefire and national reconciliation, and China had consistently believed that the question of Afghanistan should be solved by the Afghan people without external intervention," said Tang. "We are also following with great concern the recent development in the border areas between Iran and Afghanistan. China hopes that the parties concerned will keep calm,exercise restraints and settle their disputes through dialogues and consultations in the interest of peace and stability in the region and in the interest of the appropriate settlement of the Afghan issue," Tang stressed.
	Military clashes erupted between S. African and Botswanan Troops in Lesotho
	Chinese FM Meets With German FM Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan met with Klaus Kinkel, the Minister For Foreign Affairs of Germany. During their meeting, Tang Jiaxuan, who is in New York to attend the general debate at the 53rd session of the General Assembly, said cooperation between China and Germany has achieved a new depth and width in all fields. Tang Jiaxuan Meets with Brazilian FM Tang Jiaxuan held talks with Felipe Palmeira Lampreia, Brazil's Minister of Foreign Affairs. During the meeting, Tang Jiaxuan, recalled that the heads of China and Brazil reached consensus in 1993 on establishing strategic partnership between the two countries, the first such relationship between China and a country from Latin America *Tang Jiaxuan Meets With Italian FM Tang Jiaxuan met with Lamberto Dini, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Italy. Tang Jiaxuan said Italian President Oscar Luigi Scalfaro paid an official visit to China in June this year and Chinese President Jiang Zemin is scheduled to visit Italy in the spring of 1999. Tang said all this has demonstrated that the development of relationships between China and Italy has entered a new phase of full cooperation.
	Foreign Leaders Express Condolences Over Yang Shangkun's Death Heads of state and government have sent messages over the past few days to express their condolences on the death of the former Chinese president Yang Shangkun on September 14 at the age of 92.

	IMF Suggests Decision-making Transparency and Effective Supervision in Asia The International Monetary Fund released today a special preliminary report on international capital market in 1998. It says the Asian financial crises is unprecedented and has a deep impact on the world economy . After comparing the Asian crises with the Latin-American debt crises and the Mexico financial crises, the IMF calls on the Asian countries and other newly-emerging market-based countries to make the decision-making process more open, and build up an effective legislative control system.
	Kofi Annan urges International Cooperation to Tackle Financial chaos Blair Calls on Big Countries to Coordinate in Financial System Reform The United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan made a speech in the 53th United Nations General Assembly Conference, pointing out international cooperation was required to overcome the Asian financial crises and economic chaos in other countries. Also, British PM Tony Blair called on the west 7 countries to meet and discuss the world financial problems and find ways of reform.
	Is World Economy Crises Coming again? An essay by senior researchers of the Chinese Academy of social sciences analyses the current world economy and rebuffs the allegation that the world is experiencing economic crises again.
	A Declining Sweden In a series of reports on the Swedish welfare system, the second says that the high level welfare is backed up by high tax rates. Now problems have cropped up and this policy is facing challenges.
	From Snow Land to Seaside From September 15 to 20,Chinese Tibetan Children's Art Troupe was visiting Virginia, an American seaside state. The American people warmly welcomed them. Their singing and dancing attracted a multitude of people there.
	Photo: French President Jacques Chirac visited rehearsal of the Ancient Chinese Bronze Ware Show in Paris on Sept 21.The show will exhibit 56 pieces of cultural relics dating from the Xia Dynasty to the late Warring Period.

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